Welsh-medium Education in the Llynfi

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 3 July 2019.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 1:34, 3 July 2019

Well, Huw, I'm very glad to hear about the celebrations that have already been happening in your local area. And I think it's fair to say that we have come a long way since the first Welsh-medium school was opened, in the Presiding Officer's constituency, in Aberystwyth, in 1939. But I would be the first to admit that we need to work harder, and with more ambition, in order to readdress the current imbalance in the Welsh-medium offer that is available locally. And clearly, education has a crucial role to play in achieving the Welsh Government's target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

With regard to local education authorities and county councils, we have outlined our expectation of each local authority, and the methodology is being prepared that sets out the percentage point range increase in learners taught through the medium of Welsh that local authorities will have to meet at our interim milestone of 2031. So, for instance, in Bridgend, we would expect to see the percentage of learners in Welsh-medium education in that area increase from 8.7 per cent to between 15 per cent and 19 per cent. And I know that the Member's constituency also has another local authority area. We would expect figures in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area to increase from 19.2 per cent to between 27 per cent and 31 per cent. We are supporting Bridgend local authority to do that by investment in our twenty-first century schools and colleges programme as well as co-location with nursery and childcare provision that allows people to begin that journey by choosing a bilingual future for their children from the very earliest days when we can provide childcare for them as well as nursery and early years education.